Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A Harris County jury on Thursday will begin the job of determining whether Jim Crane was duped into paying too much to buy the Houston Astros from the prior owner in 2011. Jury selection began this week, and opening statements are expected to come Thursday morning in the trial, which is scheduled to last three weeks.
Lawyers for IBM were seeking an award of about $59.2 million in fees and costs for work done on the case. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen did knock down the hourly rate of some Quinn Emanuel lawyers from $1,925 an hour to a maximum of $935 an hour, and also pinged the legal team for a few expensive dinners in New Orleans and stays at the Four Seasons and the Ritz Carlton. “While, of course, the attorneys do not need to stay at a motel along the interstate, BMC should not be required to pay for these establishments for a large number of attorneys who were peripherally involved,” Judge Hanen wrote.
Dallas real estate executive Jared Caplan claims in a new lawsuit that he is the victim of a switch-and-bait fraud perpetrated by Lily Sarafan, a top executive at private equity owned home healthcare company TheKey. A lawyer for Sarafin, who is now the chair of the Stanford University board of trustees, calls the lawsuit vexatious.
In a legal era dominated by discovery, summary judgments and settlements, trial experience has become increasingly rare yet increasingly valuable. Haynes Boone is betting on deep, deliberate, in-house trial training to bridge the readiness gap of a generation of lawyers more familiar with Zoom hearings than the well of a courtroom. The inaugural HB Trial Academy brought together 16 lawyers from eight of the firm’s 19 offices for three high-impact days of instruction, hands-on workshops and live mock trials judged by seasoned Haynes Boone litigators.
J.D. Silva & Associates’ new head of litigation is based in Pearland. She hopes to strengthen the firm's trial team.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a professional gambler is accused of running a $9 million Ponzi scheme, a few cities challenging the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act are dealt a loss on appeal, and the Kentucky attorney general taps a Dallas law firm to help bring a consumer protection lawsuit against shopping website Temu.
Katana Silicon Technologies in 2022 filed suit against GlobalFoundries, alleging infringement of patents covering microscopic devices related to semiconductor manufacturing and chip packaging technologies. An Austin jury found for Katana on one of three claims.
After a week of testimony and nearly five hours for jury deliberations, one cousin walked away a winner Wednesday night. The cousins fought over the management fee, distributions and whether they were meeting the requirements of their jobs. The jury returned a $46 million verdict, but the defense will argue Gala has to pick which $23 million claim to recover damages on.
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